Day 5 - October 11: Elite Women Road Race, 124 km

How Swede it is!

Susanne Lungskog takes second rainbow in a row

Three hours of racing for thirty minutes of drama. So went the Elite Women's
Road Race of the 2003 World Championships, which ended with Susanne Ljungskog
powering to a sprint victory, narrowly defeating Mirjam Melchers of the Netherlands
and Great Britain's Nicole Cooke. But not all the drama came at the end of the
race -- or even during it. Before the race began, it was announced that Canadian
medal hopeful, Genevieve Jeanson was not permitted to start the race due to
an elevated haematocrit level. Suspicion of the cause of this level soon began
to circulate as the shocked Jeanson left the race in street clothes, visibly
upset.

But the show must go on, and it did, eventually. Very few women wanted to test
their will early on the challenging course, and those that did were not let
out of sight for long. In fact, the breaks went off the back more than the front,
as the hills took their toll on the riders. Barely half of the riders that started
the race even finished, and in the end, only 16 were together. Out of that 16,
one emerged in a sprint finish that made watching the race of attrition worth
it all -- as Susanne Ljungskog of Sweden snagged her second rainbow jersey in
as many years. "Winning the World Championships has been my goal since the Tour
[de France]," she said.

How it Unfolded

All the usual suspects were present at the front of the peloton through out
the day, but no one wanted to be the first to show their cards. Maybe it was
the fact that the race was in North America with many U.S. fans cheering them
on, but the American team was the first to make a significant attack. Christine
Thoburn was the first to go, followed by a few other riders. However, the break
was not long lasting as the peloton neutralized the effort.

Then it was Spain's Eneritz Iturriaga taking a chance, with her teammate Somarriba
on her wheel heading into the first climb. This caused a lot of the race favorites
to perk up as Somarriba is noted to be a dangerous rider. American Mari Holden
explained to Cyclingnews that Somarriba was one of the main riders she was watching.

Again, the American team worked to explode the race as Kristin Armstrong launched
an attack, with Germany's Tina Liebig and Italy's Tatiana Guderzo attempting
to bridge. But as in the other races, the descents served as the breakaway killer,
and the fast-moving peloton reeled in the break going nearly 80 km/hr.

And so it went. A few efforts came and went, the contenders all rode pace at
the front waiting for the real action to begin, and the pretenders continued
to fall off the back.

Among the contenders setting the pace at the front was France's Jeannie Longo.
And as the kilometers went by, she steadily increased the pace. With that the
peloton became increasingly stretched out, especially on the course's two climbs.

More attacking that would not succeed followed, including one by Great Britain's
race favorite Nicole Cooke, until less than 20 kilometers remained in the race.
That is when Jeannie Longo decided to stop setting the group pace and set a
pace on her own. Off the front she flew, with the other riders giving each other
looks of, "I'm not gonna chase, you chase."

Longo's gap grew rapidly as her teammate Magali Le Floc'h sat on the front
disuading any chase efforts. With no one cooperating, Longo's margin of twelve
seconds only increased, even on the climbs. By the time she reached the second
climb she had almost 25 seconds on the Russian led chase group, which is what
the peloton had been renamed by the commentators due to the lack of numbers
present.

Finally, a few attacks begin to organize, led by Russia's Zoulfia Zabirova
with Dutch rider Mirjam Melchers on her wheel. This was followed by the defending
champion Ljungskog and American Dede Demet-Barry. "The last two laps I was cramping,
which never really happens to me," said Demet-Barry. "I wasn't able to react
at the moment [Longo] went. So I tried to conserve and follow. I had to ride
in the front and be selective."

Nicole Cooke then countered the attack with a big effort, pulling Longo within
13 seconds by the time the group rolled through the start/finish with one lap
remaining. She gestured to her chasing companions to roll through, but ended
up working more. "I think that I probably did too much work," said Cooke. "I
was working and trying to get the others to follow through -- then at least
we could all work evenly. And maybe the teams with more than one rider should
have worked more as well, so yes I did try to initiate the others to work."

But Longo continued to maintain her lead of around 15 seconds on the last time
up climb number one, with Cooke and Melchers doing much of the work. Finally,
in the last five kilometers, Longo showed signs of tiring and the gap began
to fall to just 10 seconds. Not wanting to give in, Longo was out of her saddle
digging deep, with the chasers closing the gap to under 50 meters.

Coming down the final descent Longo had only a few second lead, and the crowd
wondered if it would be enough. With just two corners remaining, Longo was caught
by the hard-charging chase group led by Cooke.

The pack together for a sprint finish, rounded the final turn at 300 meters.
Melchers jumped first, and Ljungskog grabbed her wheel. Down the final 100 meters
Ljungskog powered along side Melchers to the line. It was close, but the defending
champion took the sprint, with Cooke barely clinching third after taking a slower
line along the side of Lithuania's Edita Pucinskaite.

"I had to make a choice on the last lap because we were not closing the gap
to Longo," said silver medalist Mirjam Melchers. "So if nobody would do anything
she would win and be sitting here. I was feeling good, so I made a choice. I
was chasing, which at the end it always costs more energy, but we had no choice."

"The last lap was really hard," said Ljungskog. "Mirjam and Nicole were doing
a great job out there. I have my tactics and today was good for me."